NEW YORK (from GenomeWeb – Madeleine Johnson) – Canadian firm GenePOC recently expanded its staff and intends to enter the molecular diagnostics market with a Group B Streptococcus assay at the end of the second quarter of 2016 and a Clostridium difficile assay in Q4 2016.

The company will initially launch the tests as CE-IVD products in Europe, and is aiming for US Food and Drug Administration approval of its platform and assays in late 2016.

To support these efforts, GenePOC received an undisclosed amount of private financing at the beginning of this year. Swiss development group Debiopharm Diagnostics is now the largest shareholder in GenePOC, with Montreal’s Emerillon Capital also providing investment.

“Since then, the company is progressing very rapidly,” Herbert Torfs, vice president of business development strategy, told GenomeWeb in an interview.

A Quebec City company on the cusp of a revolution in the field of medical diagnosis

Infectious disease diagnosis made fast and easy with GenePOC technology

Quebec City, February 11th, 2015 – It will soon be possible to diagnose and identify Clostridium difficile, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, respiratory tract infections, sexually transmitted infections, and a variety of other infectious diseases much faster using cutting edge technology developed by GenePOC, a rapidly expanding Quebec City company.

Not only will it be much simpler to diagnose and identify the infectious agent, but there will also be a tremendous impact on patient health. The time period between a visit to a healthcare professional and the start of appropriate medical treatment will be reduced to an absolute minimum.

“We have perfected a technology that can detect pathogen genes right at the point of care. The screening tests we offer are truly a revolution in medicine, particularly in the field of infectious disease diagnosis,” explains Patrice Allibert, CEO of the company located in the Quebec Metro High Tech Park.

Entirely designed and developed in the provincial capital at the CHU Québec by teams led by Dr. M. G. Bergeron, this technology meets a real and urgent need. “Health specialists around the world need a fast, high-quality diagnostic tool to help them provide targeted treatment for infectious diseases and provide patients with the best possible care,” says Sébastien Chapdelaine, Vice President, R&D. “This is a big improvement in health care, because the GenePOC device can provide results in under an hour, which means patients can start getting treatment sooner,” adds Allibert.

About GenePOC

Winner of the 2013 North America Frost & Sullivan Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in molecular diagnostics, GenePOC is experiencing strong growth. The company recently expanded its office space from 8,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet and is set to double its staff in the coming year. Some 20 new employees will join its current team of professionals to develop and launch this product on the market.